>of the first bits of the constituent words, eg _Sovnarkom_, _SmerSh_, _GULag_.
>Unfortunately, I've not managed to force similar habits on any of my conlangs.
>Is anyone doing so for his/her conlang?

Asha'ille is a bit obsessed with this process, actually. For example:
|tikleisha|
(I can't remember the original phrase, but this was the first such word)
Lit: "and so the mind echoes"
Means: "ditto" or "GMTA" (great minds think alike)
|mmashenkal|
Phrase: mmav mlaerml shalnen vel'mlayml shalndas kel
Lit: "one's soul moves toward our collective soul".
Means: Said when someone dies. It is believed to be literal truth rather
than a euphemism like the English phrase "to pass away." It is
only meant euphemistically when said about a non-Cresaean who was
dear to a Cresaean.
|pavemásh|
Phrase: palaem vel'vedá mmavásh
Lit: "grains through the wind"
Means: "vowel"
|kishalédhiv|
Phrase: kishalníriv shalnen ne ledhel
Lit: "the soul disremembers the body"
Means: "to decay, rot"
And there's a host of words that can be translated as varieties of "of course":
|jjhen|
Phrase: jhor'no t'jhen
Lit: "it is truth"
Means: "yes, of course"
|vilavnik|
Phrase: vik'llavni n'o kik
Lit: "now I know it"
Means: "aha, of course"
|jotnin|
Phrase: llavjotopni n'o
Lit: "I should have known it"
Means: "doh, of course"
|daepniko|
Phrase: llavdaepni vao'jhor no t'jhen kao
Lit: "I already knew that is it true"
Means: "obviously, of course"
|chekyivojhen|
Phrase: che'kyitiv vao'jhenillevnilet
Lit: "pretend I believe you"
Means: "no, of course not" (heavily sarcastic)
Most native Asha'illens know most of the full phrases that a word is based
on, too. However, the compressed word is _not_ considered slang or overly
casual. In fact, the full phrases have a very literary quality to them and
are thus not normally used in everyday speech.
--
AA